Craig Wallace reflects on the "hope, reward and opportunity" offered by the 2013/14 Federal Budget.

One of the best things to happen to disability over the last few years has been seeing our transformation from a single issue group wallowing at the margins of progressive politics to a bipartisan movement with champions across the Parliament.

I admire the way Liberal politicians like Senator Mitch Fifield and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott have reached across the aisle and refused to be 'wedged' on it.

The Liberal Party has a strong history on disability, which they don't talk about enough, that reaches back to the Fraser Government.

The NDIS has its origins in a Disability Investment Group formed by the Howard Government which worked under Mal Brough.

The International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981, which saw landmark campaigns on attitudes and schemes like the Permanent Aids for Disabled Program and is widely acknowledged as the moment disability rights was born in Australia, unfolded with vigour under the Fraser Liberal Government. The patron of IYDP was the Governor General, Sir Ninian Stephen, and that doesn't happen without the full endorsement of the government of the day.

We are not the group to use for wedge politics and in a Parliament with little bipartisanship this new tone has been refreshing.

Argy bargy on Budget night is nothing new, yet I was a little startled to blunder into the light after the Budget lock up and hear Tony Abbott's description of the Budget as lacking "hope, reward and opportunity".

Actually, there is a bit of hope about today. It's feeling a bit like Christmas but with balance sheets full of numbers instead of tinsel and turkey.

The Federal Budget gives nothing but hope to the 460,000 Australians with disability who will benefit from the full funding of DisabilityCare announced last night.

It gives nothing but hope to people locked out of the labour market through poor access to aids, equipment, personal support and respite.

It gives nothing but hope to the families of people with disability in their 80s or 90s, sick with worry about the future of their children and cast adrift in a broke and broken service system that offered rationing without care.

The way the fund is being set up should also sow some seeds of hope by rewarding those who get it right. Rather than simply raking money in through the levy and flinging it at the States and Territories with no strings attached, the Federal Government seems to have opted for a prudent investment approach. Money raised from the increase in the Medicare levy will be placed into a DisabilityCare Australia Fund which can only be drawn upon to fund the additional costs of delivering DisabilityCare Australia. The fund will be indexed and should also build interest.

Better still, the way the money is being distributed from the fund offers a germ of hope too and reflects the investment approach. Between 2014/15 and 2019, when DisabilityCare should be fully operational, approximately $20.4 billion will be raised from the levy. A fixed amount of the money flowing into the fund each year will be allocated to the States and Territories which will then be able to draw down from the fund when they meet key conditions, including agreement to coverage and the number of clients covered by the scheme. Some of the money is going out early, but much of it is being secured over the ten years.

What does all this mean?

Put simply, just as we expect a superfund to keep growing, build wealth and 'perform' for its investors, so the States and Territories will need to begin performing for Australians with disability as they start tapping into the funding stream from DisabilityCare.

For the first time Australians will have a 'hedge fund' that insures us against the greatest risk of all: the fact that any day at any time we are one trip, slip or blip away from permanent disability.

It should even give a glimmer of hope to the driest of economists - whether or not you care about disability as a social issue - that we might start to tap the talents of the 800,000 people on the Disability Support Pension and pull those who can work into the real economy where they can contribute, pay tax, spend, learn and earn.

The Productivity Commission estimates that 220,000 jobs will come from DisabilityCare directly and indirectly, while Deloitte Access Economics, in their 2011 report for the Australian Network on Disability, The economic benefits of increasing employment for people with disability, identify a $43 billion increase if we can increase the participation rate by one third. The report also refers to this target as achievable.

Long after we forget the firestorm of scandals and drama of the hung parliament, the green shoots of DisabilityCare may be remembered as the one bit of hope, reward and opportunity that the 43rd parliament - Labor, Coalition and Independent alike - actually bequeathed to us all.

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Mark Bagshaw :

16 May 2013 5:29:01pm

Well said, as always, Craig. I love your analogy to Christmas – it really does feel like that, doesn't it? And the funding commitment is like the star on top of the Christmas tree – a complete solution.

Well, almost. The phenomenal progress that has been made since the launch of the Productivity Commission report has created, for the first time in living memory, the potential to change the way our nation thinks about people with disability. The potential economic benefit numbers you refer to towards the end of your article are enormous and, as you point out, even the most sceptical of hard-nosed economists must surely raise their eyebrows at these numbers.

But there is still something missing. Belief. Belief in the capacity of people with disability to participate in all aspects of our society. Belief that, by investing in people with disability by providing the support we need to participate, those numbers can be achieved. Every "business" knows only too well that, unless the business believes that it is able to turn, say, an investment of $100 million in a new product line into profit – i.e. believes that it has the right people, believes it has the right business model, believes it has the resources it needs – even the most attractive investment propositions don't move beyond the proposition stage.

It is truly remarkable that we see such bipartisan support for the NDIS, and that the dollars are now being earmarked for it. But unless we all believe that the money that is spent under the NDIS can and should lead to participation in employment, education, and everything else, we run the risk that the fundamental shift in culture that will be so essential to achieving the potential of the NDIS will not gain the focus it should to guide the development of the scheme.

I'm very upbeat about this, though. We CAN do it. But I'd encourage everybody not to think that we've won the battle yet. Far from it. Let's keep the momentum going now and line up for Phase 2 of the campaign. It's time now to convince the Australian people that people with disability are just as capable as anyone else. Let's raise the bar and accept nothing less than people with disability achieving all they can and want to achieve. Just like everyone else.

buttercup :

16 May 2013 5:02:07pm

Craig, thank you for your article and thank God the Government had the forethought to get this Disability Insurance Package into reality.

My eldest grandson now aged 22 has been fully funded and cared for by his parents since he was born and it is only of recent times that assistance in the form of respite has been available to him. Although he is brain damaged, doesnt speak, cannot do anything for himself he looks perfectly normal and therefore people believe there is nothing wrong with him.

One stupid person at Centerlink even had my daughter bring him into the office so she could "interview him". She didn't believe my daughter and her doctor that this boy was brain damaged, couldn't speak and had zero ability to ever hold a job. Naturally the "interview" was a completely useless exercise.

His parents are super dooper heros and I applaud them publicly and I tell them often how lucky my grandson is to have them as parents. Without their dedication this young man may not have made it but the rewards of fighting for him are immeasurable. He has the happiest laugh you could ever with to hear and he laughs often.

So no matter what the Opposition say about the Liberals and their disability policies, they have never ever been enough, just band-aid solutions at best. At least the Disability Insurance Scheme gives people with disabilities some quality of life they would not otherwise be able to have. It gives them hope, rewards and opportunity and best of all it doesn't make them feel like second class forgotten citizens. It benefits their self esteem.

I urge anybody reading this to go to somewhere where people with Disabilities are and get to know them. They are all individuals, they have senses of humor and many of them have part time jobs (albeit in sheltered workshops etc.) and take great pride in their achievements.

Ben :

17 May 2013 10:06:08am

Well said Buttercup, and I agree anyone that doesn't should get to know at least one person with a disability to "see how the other half live". There are some however that work full time, and not just in simple jobs. My wife has CP and is a Public Servant in a Case Management role. True enough there are few if any opportunities for her in the private sector, but hopefully in time and when finally the NDIS comes into full effect, government and business will look at people with disability not just as a burden on society, or an obligation, but as a real resource. In an ideal society (and I know we don't live in one) we should all be able to do what we can, receive what help or support we need, and feel valued and appreciated, whether disabled, not disabled or a carer. The reality is, and too many people don't get this, there is no template for disabled that everyone fits into, you'll find everyone with or without a disability is an individual, and disabled or not, all our needs and attributes are part of who we are, as well as what we aspire to be, it's just that sometimes others prevent us from reaching our potential, and the NDIS by any other name, as well as providing support is a way to level the playing field, and reset societal expectations.

Sweeney :

16 May 2013 4:30:31pm

I do not trust government to deliver assistance or programs efficiently. The track record of Minority Labor has been appalling. Auditor General reports continually show poor oversight, maladministration, waste, insufficient benchmarking and performance reports.

It is very easy to support motherhood statements like helping people and supporting improved education.

It is much harder to know if layers of bureaucracy, overlapping authorities, state and Federal and local can get it right. Assistance, not just cash, has to be go to the people who need it. What we do not need is yet another Federal government department talking to State government departments and disabled person and their families being forgotten.

Sometimes, I would rather see funds given directly to charitable organisations under credible and transparent agreements, so that funds and assistance can be handled by people who know the people they are dealing with on a personal level.

I do not trust bureaucrats or wet sentimentality as it has been shown to just waste money for decades and the problems and issues are not resolved.

There's a Train Coming :

16 May 2013 8:42:36am

NDIS does bring a glimmer of hope for the needs of the disabled. Appears tho half will be eaten up by administrators. How about mandatory percentage 20% employment of disabled people as administrators ?

I do not see any change in employer's attitudes to actually employing us. From experience I find employers eyes just glaze over when they note a disability.

We need to bring (force) change of attitude, upgrade premises standards for buildings so they do not keep excluding us, public transport that's accessible, more than 2 wheelchair policy on flights. Respect.

A quota for all levels of government on employing disabled to start with then the larger companies say 2% employees disabled or over 55.

Ben :

16 May 2013 7:25:41am

I desperately hope that the NDIS or Disability Care does become a real thing rather than the wished for dream it has been for so long.My concern is that if a Coalition Government comes to power, the continuation of Joe Hockey's negativity toward the NDIS will change from being somewhat annoying, to a Treasurer rationalising funds out of a much needed scheme to fund his much wanted Surplus.It is no surprise that Joe Hockey has stated he feels we cannot afford the NDIS, and that we need to be in surplus before delivering such lofty ideal reforms. The reality is of course, as stated by the Productivity Commissioner, the NDIS will deliver growth and be cost negative, as it creates or augments a whole new industry of providing services and jobs for those that have been left out for so long.It's the things we do when times are tough to make things better for others that count, and it's people like Wayne Swan and Julia Gillard (despite what political affiliation you may have), that make the difference when they do what's best but hard, rather than what's popular or seen to be better in the short term. Doing something tokenistic for others or for those who are seen to be suffering when things are going well does little more than feed the ego or dull down the guilt, like churchgoers putting some money on the collection plate at mass, wanting to be seen, but not particularly caring about the result.Hopefully though, with Bipartisan support and if all the required legislation can pass through both houses of parliament, the opportunity for the short sighted or less community minded politicians to water down this reform may be eliminated, or at least reduced.Fingers crossed, and keep up the pressure and discussion.

Sue O'Reilly :

15 May 2013 9:53:05pm

Another great article Craig, but one small correction - the Disability Investment Group was established by Bill Shorten in 2009, nothing to do with Mal Brough. And the NDIS did not have its beginnings with the DIG anyway. The NDIS began several years before the DIG with Bruce Bonyhady, who worked incredibly hard to put a detailed proposal together a from Melbourne, after the idea was first planted in his head by former Labor Deputy PM Brian Howe, who called for a "paradigm shift" in thinking about disability service and support funding around 2003. Bruce found his way to John Walsh in Sydney, who had been working himself on a similar idea for many years, and together they put something together for Kevin Rudd's 2020 Big Ideas Summit in early 2008, which they gave to a delegate called Katrina Clark to present at the summit. Rudd described it as one of the best ideas presented. Then Bill Shorten came on the scene as the Parl Sec, supported hugely by Jenny Macklin (a former Howe staffer...) and in 2009, Shorten established the Disability Investment Group - one member of which was Bruce Bonyhady (not coincidentally). The DIG report, which called for an NDIS, was presented to the fed govt at the end of 2009, following which soon after the govt commissioned the Productivity Commission report. And we all know the rest from there. Re the Libs: Mitch Fifield is an absolute hero, and Tony Abbott got it eventually, after a huge amount of lobbying work, but Joe Hockey - he clearly still doesn't get it, at all. Shame, but fortunately nothing he can do to dismantle it now, with the funding locked in for 10 years LOL.

stuart mawbey :

15 May 2013 4:47:48pm

It is awesome indeed and full marks to the politicians that gave this initiative support.

I'm also pleased to see the Coalition backing this important reform, showing that some matters are more important than politics. It gives me personal hope, it gives me hope for others in situations more dire than mine.

Full marks to you Mr. Wallace, el presidente, as I know, probably better than most, how much work you've put into NDIS over the years.

Hank Wyllie :

15 May 2013 4:29:14pm

Well put Craig, but putting politics aside, the International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981 as well as the DDA in 1992 has seen very little change.Develepors are still erecting mostly inaccessible buildings; there is still a very State by State and very convoluted and diverse system of providing essential aids and equipment to people with disabilities. While some aspects of the Budget will assist people on the DSP, many are unable to work even part time because, quite simply, their disability prevents them from doing so!I can only hope that the NDIS (DisabilityCare) will assist, but in my opinion, the TRUE cost of disability, be it to unpaid Carers; family or freinds is not fully realised.Hank

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